At the recently held 17th Annual Star Screen Awards, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan avoided a potentially awkward moment with Salman Khan, with dignity and some quick thinking.

A source present at the event said, "The closing act of the awards was performed by Aishwarya on many of her popular hits. As she reached the backstage much ahead of time for her performance, she decided to rest at the nearby lounge till her performance was announced.

But before Ash could enter the lounge she bumped into Vidya Balan and the two exchanged pleasantries for some time. After her conversation Ash went inside, glanced around and was seen walking out of the room swiftly. Ash stood quietly outside and refused to budge till her performance was announced."

When the organisers of the show, Cineyug, and the people around were wondering about the reason for Ash's sudden exit, Salman Khan was suddenly spotted casually strolling out of the lounge. "It was obvious that Salman was inside (the lounge) but Ash with her usual poise, assessed a potentially embarrassing situation and left quickly thus averting it completely.

After Salman left, a crew member rushed to Aishwarya and told her that she could now probably go and relax at the lounge but Ash refused and stayed outside," the source said. The source also informed that while Aishwarya rushed out from the lounge, Salman appeared to be perfectly calm and collected even after spotting his ex-girlfriend.

"Salman has moved on and has no issues about bumping into anyone anywhere. He was relaxing with some friends and when he spotted Ash, he appeared unmoved and continued with his conversation."